Ron's Path to Manhood
by The Ardent Warrior-Poet
Summary: After the events of Ron the Man episode, Ron Stoppable takes a long look at himself and realizes that something needs to change. He does, not only for himself but to keep his loved ones safe. And in the process, he'll learn what it means to truly be man
1. To Be Aware of the Path

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

**Ron's Path to Manhood**

_**Prologue Chapter: To Be Aware of the Path**_

Hours after Rabbi Katz left, Ron Stoppable was sitting on his bed and looking over his newly signed Bar Mitzvah certificate. He was feeling very confused. For all his enthusiasm earlier today about _officially _becoming a man, at least in the eyes of his family and religion, he felt hollow somehow, like there was a piece he was still missing.

There was an issue within himself that needed figuring out.

Standing up, he glanced over at Rufus who lay sleeping on his pillow – the naked mole rat did not so much as twitch at the towheaded boy's movement. Satisfied that he didn't wake up his friend, Ron went over to the full length mirror near his door and looked at himself, meeting his reflection's eyes and literally staring himself down. He wasn't sure why he wanted to nor did he understand what he hoped find, but after nearly a minute, the memories of the past few days' trials and mishaps came flooding into his thoughts.

He saw himself at the start of the day before yesterday, showing off his personal history as well as the initial debacle that finally ended tonight: the Bar Mitzvah certificate. He remembered how scared he was when he discovered that there was no signature on the bottom. And then… ugh, Mr. 'I-Am-The-Final-Judge-On-Everything' Barkin.

Ron expression curled into a distasteful grimace, one that his reflection mirrored, no pun intended. Now he looked like he was disgusted with himself… and in a way, he was. The vice-principle, like everyone else in this school, lifted his spirits just so he could crush them down harder. And it continued onto the next school day.

The boy now felt a sudden urge to take off his shirt and when he did, his frown deepened all the more as Mr. Barkin's cutting words reverberated around his skull. God, why did he not simply walk on by that day after bumping into him? Why did he even bother asking for help with his internal doubts?

"_My dad said that the question isn't: am I a man? It's what kind of man? And I gotta tell ya, I'm not sure."_

"_Well that's easy… You're small and weak…"_

The memory of the smug, highhanded explanation made Ron look down at himself, just like it did later on that day when he had the molecular muscle ring. His body was pathetic, damn near a kid's physique-

"_Stoppable, the ideal man is big and/or strong. You are neither."_

-almost useless for the stuff he and KP do daily, if not weekly.

It was astounding how Kim actually wanted him to go on these missions considering how much he felt like he was holding her back. Again, Mr. Barkin had words about that as well, of which Ron should not have been surprised in the slightest.

Stupid jerk.

"_You get rescued by a girl, Stoppable."_

"_Hey! Sometimes…"_

"_Frequently…_

Ron shook his head and stared at himself again, this time flexing his biceps, abdominals, and pectorals – he was trying to get a feel for the power he had when he wore that ring, how strong and confident he was simply by _having_ all that strength. He shuddered with longing – was that the right word? – for how awesome and badical he had felt.

For a little under a day, Ron was _unstoppable_. Except where vents were concerned, apparently…

Stupid vents.

The towheaded teenager relaxed his body and sighed; his attempts at showing off were feeble at best. And that worse thing was that he knew it. His best friend's placations, while well-intended, didn't help matters either. In fact, they served only to highlight some of the more recriminating aspects of his abilities.

"_Kim, how often would you say that you recue me?"_

"_Uh, I don't know… sometimes."_

"…"

"_Err… frequently?"_

He wanted to be angry with her, or at least annoyed. But he couldn't do that; not to his best friend since Pre-K. She didn't seem impressed when she showed up to find his sudden boost in physicality – hell, she took on big, swarthy henchmen in almost every mission since she started. And she could destroy them soundly, easily, even when they came in groups.

"_Muscles do not make a man!" _she had said earlier today and Monique had backed her up, _"Nope. You gotta dig deeper than that."_

And just then, something clicked within Ron. He looked back at himself, staring slack-jawed in sudden understanding. Kim Possible, he friend since as far back as he could remember, was a girl.

No seriously, not just a girl but rather a _girl_.

Kim was a girl, a member of the female gender. For all her tomboyish behavior, she walked like a girl, talked like a girl, and most importantly _thought _like a girl. All her advice from the past couple days, all her comments and insights began to make a bit of sense... if coming from a female's perspective. Not that there was anything wrong with that to begin with, but still.

"KP's a girl with a girl's thoughts on what a man should be," he whispered aloud. "She has no clue on how what a _man _thinks a man should be…"

How did he never see this before, he wondered, feeling very stupid with himself. Again, he shook himself of the self-recriminating thoughts and focused himself back on topic. He was now a man but was unsure of what that meant. Oh sure, his dad and rabbi mentioned that it 'comes from within,' but what did that mean? Where does that process start? And how, upon realizing it, does one become what he wants to be so very badly?

Ron, feeling a little less confused now, went to pick up his shirt and stopped, his hands still on the material. An idea had suddenly come to him right then.

_If I don't know something, ask or look it up. _

_Don't be an idiot and whine when I'm confused. _

_Figure it out without being told to do so._

The towheaded teenager slowly stood up and glanced at his alarm clock. It was seven minutes past eleven pm. His parent's were asleep so he couldn't ask them right now. Curiosity into his latest insight burned within his thoughts as he puzzled out his next move.

_If I don't know something, ask or look it up._

_Figure it out without being told to do so._

Oh right, he had internet. A severely restricted – and why was that just now bothering him? – internet but access to the web nonetheless. Quickly, Ron stepped over to his console and sat down, opening up a search engine and typing in several keywords related to his questions. And as Ron began to read, his father's voice came to him unbidden with words of wisdom he so often overlooked in the past.

"_What's important now is what kind of man are you?"_

"What kind of man, am I?" asked Ron of himself as he continued to read. "I guess... now at least, I'm a self-starting man."

Ron would not get any sleep that night. There was too much he didn't know about himself.

But he was determined to figure it out.

_**To Be Continued…**_

**A/N. Hey everybody, this is my first Kim Possible fanfic so by all means please review! Don't be gentle or dishonest, I don't care if I get flamed. Just please comment for my ego's sake, *laughs*.**

** Anyway, I got this idea after the "Ron the Man" episode in Season 1. Let's be honest, did the ending sit right with any of you? It didn't with me, which is why I decided to type this out. Ron seemed to get the shaft from everybody up until this point. The guy has no male role model. Period. His parents are shown as too busy for their kid, constantly off doing something, or simply apathetic with the mindset that "negligence equals independence."**

** And that's utter bullshit. Ron has so much growing to do that it's not even funny… at least if you look at the show objectively. He's stunted so much confidence-wise that I can't understand how he's able to function on missions, much less contribute if only as a distraction. Look, I'll be the first to admit that he's got a good heart but naiveté and dumb luck can only carry one so far.**

** So here's my interpretation on what Ron might become if he was something of a self-starter early on in the series. **


	2. Those Awkward First Steps Part 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! I'm seriously. You see this disclaimer? You do, huh. Yeah… even that's not mine.**

**Pre-Story Answer Blog.**

**CajunBear73 – Yup, romance… the penultimate bane of my writing existence. As I've already told you, I have some ideas. And some plans. And maybe an actual toss up between two of my favorite characters. We'll see…**

**Pavelius – Hey thanks man! If I need the help, I'll be sure to ask you. Thanks for the review!**

**Eddy13 – Thanks for the review and I'll do my best. But I have to ask… Kim's on a very short list of girls I'm considering and should I choose someone different, would you really drop this fic just for that? I mean, I know I'm not the best writer and there's probably a million and one things that could drive you away from reading this, but really and truly if no Kim Possible? Huh… good on you for cannon loyalty, though.**

**Sentinel103 – Please see the CajunBear73 reply or review the numerous correspondences on this site's messaging system. Thanks for reviewing though!**

**Raidentensho – Lol, we think very alike. But we'll see on how this turns out. At this point, I'm considering everything.**

**legion19 – Thanks for the review!**

**Juicedmark – Thank you much. I'm typing away as fast as LIFE will allow, lol. Gotta love college…**

**Progkiller – I'll save you the suspense right now, it's not going to be. Master Sensei, in all his redundant glory, will not be the primary mover and shaper of Ron's life. That's Ron's job, hence the point of him being a self-starter. The problem an American teenager/hero having a Japanese shinobi master for a "life coach" is simple: they have vastly different approaches to a problem courtesy of their vastly different cultures. Not that there's anything wrong with the concept, but still. Ron can't simply pick up all those little tidbits and points of view without completely changing his very character. In short, it would destroy the character we all know and love to write about. **

**warriors-lover-97 – If you're reading this then question answered, lol! Thanks for reviewing!**

**XXXXXXX**

**Ron's Path to Manhood**

_**Chapter One: Those Awkward First Steps… (Part 1)**_

And yet, by the time he got to school the next morning, Ron wasn't any closer to his goal. If anything, he was more confused than when he started this whole "learning to be a man" thing. His labors last night proved solidify the point that he really didn't know where to begin or even who to ask.

As per usual, he 'rents were gone before he awoke, leaving a post it note with contact info and a seemingly half-remembered "We love you!" written at the bottom. So much for family bonding, he thought with some bitterness.

'_Oh well, sucks to be me,'_ he thought, shaking his head with a small, wry smile. _'Yadda, yadda, yadda…'_

The plus-side was that he had friends to rely upon. Rufus, who was currently snoozing in his cargo pocket, was around to eat and converse with before he got would around to those sixteen hours of mandatory sleep time mole rats apparently needed daily. And then there was Kim, walking next to him as they both made their way towards their next class. She always had been there when he needed her and, with luck, he always would…

Barring teenage hormones, super-villain schemes, and random hottie inserts to provoke unnecessary drama, of course. He frowned slightly just then, confused at the strange nagging feeling of irony and epic foreshadowing.

Odd that.

But Kim, in all her reliability and good-natured "Kim-ness," brought up some interesting (if not questionable) thoughts within Ron, and all of them were due to his web browsing fest last night. He wasn't quite willing to think about them overmuch; his weary mind was already filled to the brim with so many questions – and questions about those questions – that he could barely think straight. It was making him irritable despite his attempts to let his inner Ron-shine flow.

So in effort to salvage some measure of sanity, he wrote them down, just a few of them that _really_ stood out. No more than a hundred or so. And around fifty of them were all about his best _female _friend.

Ron rubbed his eyes and tried – and failing – to hold back a yawn.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Kim's mildly concerned expression, her unspoken question right on the tip of her tongue. In a weird way, he felt happy that for the moment he had her complete attention, a rarity as he was learning as the school year progressed. But it also made him feel a bit perturbed. She shouldn't be worried about him so much; she had her own life to live. And besides, he was a man now, right?

He had the certificate to prove it and the signature to prove _that_. He was legit now.

Enter question number sixty-two: just what did Kim think about when she looked at him?

'_No time like the present to find out,'_ he decided internally.

"What's up, KP?" he asked, forcing as much cheer as he could fake into his smile.

Her pointed look confirmed that she already knew the answer even before she opened her mouth to ask, "How much sleep did you get last night?"

Ron chuckled. "Somewhere in the vicinity of 'nadda' and 'a bit'." He saw her delicate brows drop slightly into a chastising frown. "Am I that obvious?"

She nodded slowly. "Yeah. You passed by most of the cheer squad without even _attempting _to ask one out. Tara even tried to wave at you and you ignored her."

Hold on… Tara did what now?_ 'Curses…' _He forced himself not to wince at the lost flirting potential when he replied, "I have a lot on my mind. Can't a guy zone out for a bit?"

"You've done that and more the last two periods, Ron," Kim huffed, pausing at her locker while he leaned against the adjacent one. "You snoozed right through Social Studies and I'm kind of surprised that you even woke up long enough to write your name on the pop quiz in Algebra I. If you keep this up, you're going to bomb the semester even if you somehow ace the midterms!" she said as she stuffed books into her locker while she replaced the ones for her next class in her bag.

'_And now she's two for two,'_ the towheaded boy noted, feeling his innate "Kim senses" tingling, warning him of a potential best-friend lecture coming on. She did have a habit of doing that as of lately and it sometimes became quite grating.

"Jeez Vice-Principal KP, amp down on the ranting will you?" he snarked, "Sheesh."

The subsequent slam of a locker door closing both jolted him and alerted his rather beleaguered mind that he probably should've kept his mouth shut. Kim's indignant glare only proved to solidify that point.

"I am not ranting!" she grumbled lowly, dangerously, "Look, you're my friend and as a friend, I need to tell you when you're screwing up–"

What the heck was her problem today, he wondered. "Hold on. How am I screwing up? Look, when you gotta crash, you gotta crash. You and me know that better than anyone considering that we, a couple of high schoolers, _save the world_," he sighed. "'sides, I had some things that needed the Ron-man's full attention last night."

She shouldered her book bag like it weighed nothing and stepped towards him to poke him square in the chest. Rather hard at that. "Well I hope reaching level fifty-two in _Zombie Hunter _was worth not sleeping before class. Good luck if we have a mission to do today…"

"Level fifty-three, KP," corrected Ron, frowning at the jibe and poke. "And just so you know, I haven't touched my games since the crap with my Bar Mitzvah certificate ended. And what's with the sudden life-coaching, anyway? What's the sitch with you today?"

"I'm worried about you," sighed Kim, shaking her head. "All you do at school is goof around and when you go home, instead of studying or sleeping, you play video games. You choose to laze around when you should be learning how to better yourself!"

And now he was annoyed.

"I AM learning how to better myself, Kim!" he said as he crossed his arms. "Haven't you ever taken the time to think things through before? Have you ever so confused about something that you've taken time out of your day to really look it up and try to understand it?"

She looked nonplussed at his admittedly vague explanation. "Confused about what?"

"Life, the universe... and everything else," replied Ron. He crossed his fingers and hoped she wouldn't say '_forty-two._'

"You're not making any sense, Ron," said Kim and Ron sighed in mixed relief and frustration.

"I know, I know. But you can't help me, not with this anyway."

"And why's that?"

Throwing all caution to the wind, Ron replied, "Because you're a girl."

"WHAT?"

Kim's indignant screech did not go unnoticed and Ron saw that many students began to draw in close around them, eager to listen in on their conversation. The way they were watching the verbal spar was as if it was the most interesting footnote to date in their short lives. Which, the towheaded boy allowed with a twinge of chagrin, was probably the truth.

High school was nothing if not drenched in enough awk_weird_ teenage social drama to inspire even the most lacking of soap opera writers to create masterworks of conversational byplay in between major plot points.

Here's looking at you, _Boy Meets World_. And those that watched it all the way through know who you are…

Kim stared at him, her face flushed with raw feminine pique while he struggled with the conflict warring inside him.

On one side was the idea that he shouldn't have said anything, that perhaps he could sooth his friend's fury with a heartfelt apology that she so rightly deserved after such a sexist remark. But on the other side was his pride, his personal ego that, before the events of the past few days, had yet to truly rear its head and defend him. He truly meant what he said and honestly didn't feel it necessary to belittle his own self-confidence anymore than it already had been for years and years.

Both sides were equally tempting but only one would win the battle.

So Ron Stoppable was now faced with a choice of either backing down – like always – or to take – for the first time in his life – the first leap and plunge willingly into an uncertain future.

Why was it uncertain? Because, the outcome of this argument would end with or without Kim's ever-stalwart support at his side, her as a friend and/or he as her partner. And it could even ruin their friendship permanently, if the examples set by past generations of teenagers were anything to go by.

'_What to do, what to do…' _he mused before making his decision. _'If Yahweh's listening up there, throw me a bone… please…'_

"I said… Because you are a girl, KP," carefully repeated Ron, his voice and expression utterly serious with the knowledge that Kim may very well hate him forever for this. "No offense, but there are some things that girls can't help guys with at all."

The crowd around them hushed, their wide eyes staring back and forth between the two while both teen heroes ignored them. Predictably, Kim Possible did not take this well.

In fact, she was downright pissed. "H-how… dare… you… Ron… Stoppable?" she growled, advancing on him with a look that screamed _"I am going to destroy you!" _

"Please, give me a minute to finish before you hurt me…" he begged, backing away slowly, his hands raised in warding. In hindsight, these actions were not those of a confident man. But he rationalized that him living without experiencing sixteen forms of kung-fu was marginally more appealing than his loss of public face. Marginally.

Kim seemed shocked by his actions – a common state as of late – and paused, considering. "You have sixty seconds. Fifty-nine… fifty-eight… fifty-seven…"

There was no going back from this, Ron began to realize with an eerie sense of calm. For the first time in their relationship, an unspoken line had been cross and it was he that'd thrown down the gauntlet.

"…fifty… Forty-nine… forty-eight…"

Time to see if he could back it up…

"Can you live life knowing that you _can't _understand something despite your best efforts to figure it out?" asked Ron quietly. "That maybe, the reason you can't do it is because you lack the right… uh. The right…"

Ron's mind blanked as he fought for the words he was looking for. They came from a rather unexpected origin.

"POV?" offered a familiar voice from the crowd.

"Um…" He scanned the onlookers and found the face to match the voice. Ah hell, it was Monique, KP's _other _best friend. Maybe her _sole _BF if this didn't end well. One look at the redhead's face proved that it was a highly likely possibility. "POV?"

"Point of View?" the black girl clarified stiffly. Oh yeah, she too was ticked off at the Ron-man.

"Yeah, point of view. I get that girls have loads of stuff that guys can't help them with so logic says that guys have guy-stuff that girls can't fix…"

Kim's green eyes were practically slits of emerald fire at this point and Ron swore that he could hear her perfect white teeth grinding. "Twenty-one… twenty…"

Crap. He had to finish this quickly.

"…and I can't ask anybody else because I have no one else. My family's always gone or busy and there's no one here at school that I can go to. You're lucky you have the people you have, Kim. You're lucky you don't have my problems…"

Kim blinked once… twice… and then resumed her countdown to meltdown. "…five… four…three…"

Panic flooded Ron's weary mind and he practically shouted the last sentence in a nigh-unintelligible rush, "…I'm sorry if I offended you but _imnotsorryforbeingme!_" He gasped loudly as he found to control the thud-thud-thudding of his rapid heartbeat.

Dead silence… except for his breathing. Kim shook her head in confusion as the crowd picked up again, this time at a dull roar. Even still, he could hear her voice, "What was that last bit, Ron?"

After taking in a few calming breaths, and noticing how suddenly hot it was in this particular part of Middleton High, he repeated himself. "I said that I'm sorry if I offended you but I'm not sorry for being me."

His best friend since Pre-K nodded slowly and let her hair fall in front of her ears, obscuring her face from view. Ron thought he heard a few sniffles from beneath the man of auburn locks and he walked over to see if he could help–

***THWAK!***

-and suddenly he was on the ground, looking up and seeing stars.

He didn't even see her move, she was so fast. His cheek was throbbing with blinding pain and the sounds of a very surprised student body quieted in the face of a wrathful Kimberly Anne Possible. Her rage was like a thunderstorm rolling down the mountainside, shocking, awe-inspiring, and promising vast destruction. A pity it took several seconds into her tirade before Ron's ears started working again.

A pity… or a blessing in disguise?

"…dare… insult me… like… pig! After all I've done for you, you go and say something like that? I thought you were different! I was trying to help you because I thought we were friends, YOU JERK! Some friend you are–"

Ron opened his mouth to say something in defense but his jaw didn't seem to work right. It hit him then that being struck by a raging practitioner of sixteen forms of kung-fu as well as a full-fledged gymnast could definitely do some lasting damage... if, of course, Kim had been serious.

He murmured a silent prayer to God for His divine intervention and small blessings. His hand touched his jaw tenderly. Nope, nothing broken yet – just swollen he figured – but if one thing's for sure, he damn sure wouldn't forget this moment for the rest of his natural life.

"–problems, Ron-_man_? You want to talk about problems?" Kim asked sarcastically, now standing above him, looking down with an ugly look. Her tone was dripping with venom. "Well, you're in luck as I have _sooo _many to choose from. How's this? I have this FRIEND that wants to EMBARRASS ME in front of the WHOLE SCHOOL just because HE likes to throw HISSY FITS because HE'S _TIRED… _Aw, poor little Ron-_man_–"

So, unless she was planning on killing him after screaming at him, Ron just might be able to walk away relatively unscathed. And if she decided to go through with it, if it would make the pain stop – hers, at least – then he would welcome it. But even if he could speak right now, he wouldn't take back what he said. He meant it with every fiber of his being.

And that scared him, the power his words invoked within.

'_KP… Just a minute of speech did this to you?' _Ron wondered.

The towheaded boy couldn't believe that mere words could affect someone so much, that it didn't take a muscle-enhancement ring or fancy glowing plasma to inflict pain and suffering on his dearest friend. This was quite an eye-opener for Ron, even if the process of learning the lesson – if there was anything to be had from pissing off your best friend in public, unintentionally or not.

He listened as Kim tore into him verbally, listing all his internal deficiencies (in great detail) as well as his external attributes (of which there wasn't much to note). Anger bubbled up from within but he suffered the tirade without protest or comment. It wasn't that he didn't have a right to, because that just wasn't true… or so he thought.

But rather, he was curious to know if the redhead could provide better answers then the host of garbage he'd found online. Anything, even this blow up, was better than all those wasted hours.

Seriously, 'a real man fights a bear with nothing but his beard?' The towheaded boy would laugh if the he wasn't so nervous over his imminent destruction. On a random side note, he didn't even have peach fuzz on his chin much less facial hair on the order of Chuck Norris.

Stupid late-blooming puberty.

And where the heck was he going to find a bear to duke it out with… Camp Wannaweep?

'_Nuh uh, not happening, ever! That hellish place can bend down and kiss my tiny little, Jewish… oh. She's done talking now…'_

As Ron zoned back into reality, he noticed that Kim was heaving breath after breath as if she had run twelve miles in a perfectly balanced handstand through a tiger-infested jungle with Dr. Draken shooting lasers at her and Shego throwing her fireballs and a tiny little nano-tick with a microscopic detonator was attached to her nose and the time until detonation was running out and…

He stopped his imaginings, realizing that he was going to take a page from Rufus' book and sleep all day once school was over. He also couldn't think straight and that, as he had just learned, could be very bad.

"Well?" a voice asked.

'_Well? Well what?'_ he wondered, confused. _'Oh, yeah, that's right… Kim's mad… yeah… good for me…'_

Ron attempted to talk and managed to repeat the monosyllabic question. "Well?"

"WELL? Are you going to take back what you said, or not?" Kim roared.

He slowly shook his head no, not trusting himself to speak. In his opinion, he'd said enough for one day. This, again, did not sit well with Kim.

"Fine. Then consider our friendship on probation," she sneered down at him. "I'm surprised at you, jerk. I thought you were different from the others… but I guess you're exactly the same. Don't call me or beep me; you're not going to reach me. Have a good time at school without help from a GIRL!"

And with that, she turned around on her heel, the crowd parting for her like the Red Sea for Moses. Ron's eyes began to swim as managed to sit up from the floor, the back of his head protesting painfully from the change in position. The school bell rung distantly while he rubbed his face, wishing that today never happened and that he could ignore the comments from the student body departing for their next period.

"Wow, what a freak, dude…"

"I know, right? Wasn't he and Kim supposed to be tight?"

"Not anymore. The loser just CB'd himself…"

"Huh? CB?"

"Cock blocked. Aren't you also one of Monique's friends?"

"I… thought better of you R-Ronnie…"

Ron shook his head at the last one, wondering if his "in" with Tara had been closed. Whatever, he decided – he hoped they enjoyed the show because he most certainly didn't. A thousand years seemed to pass before he could stand up, mere seconds in reality, and he padded his right pocket to check if Rufus was alright. A feather-light shuffling against his leg and the soft snores of a blissfully-unaware rodent was the answer to that.

"Well, Rufus old buddy," murmured Ron, gently caressing his pet. "It looks like we're all alone again. I done goof'd…"

A heavy hand slammed down upon his shoulder and a deep commanding voice boomed from behind him. "Yes you did, Stoppable," agreed Mr. Barkin. "Illegal procrastination in a school hallway past bell curfew. This makes strike four, you know."

Ron sighed and nodded. "Yeah, Mr. B. I know."

Which was true, he did know. In more ways than one. Ron Stoppable knew exactly what Kim thought of him when she looked at him. She saw a jerk, a lazy, good-for-nothing, sexist jerk.

Huzzah for acquired knowledge and a dose of common sense to the side of the dome. Can he get a Booyah?

"Good. Follow me to my office," commanded the vice-principal. "We have _oodles _to discuss…"

_**To be continued…**_

**A/N: I know there might be some backlash from this chapter, first for content and second for timeliness. For the latter, sorry: life does come first. However I'll try to be more prompt with my updates.**

**As for the former, all I can say is that no one was right, not Kim, not Ron. I'll leave that to you fine people to figure out why that is. **

**And no, I'm not killing Kim and Ron's friendship because that would kill this story. **

**Heinlein (see Starship Troopers the novel) once wrote that conflict, in all its many forms, whether be physical, mental, or emotional, has changed the course of history more than anything else barring global catastrophe. Oddly enough, he was right. Go conflict! **

**And while this idea may piss people off, know also that conflict helps people (think about all the crap in your life and what things miht be like without it) grow into who they might become.**

**This is nothing more than a friendly dose of conflict that will affect the rest of the story. **

**Enjoy.**

**-Mark **


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